La musique de 007

It's a nice summary of the history of the music in the James Bond films. Surprisingly, they left out the John Barry instrumental theme to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I always found that to be a compelling piece of music.

To me, that intro was much better than the James Bond theme used through the films of the franchise. It was used throughout the action segments of the film and aligned so well with the character. You'll know it when you hear it.

Otherwise, this is a nice walk through the films of the franchise and touch upon almost all of the instantly recognizable musical pieces and motifs of the series.

This is an interesting watch as it tells you much of the inside story of the music of James Bond, but I am disappointed that the two songs of the franchise that have stayed with me the most are hardly mentioned.

1: "Tomorrow never dies" by Sheryl Crow. Being the wife/girlfriend of a government assassin would not be a comfortable place to be, and nothing captures the pathos of this situation more than this song. So it would relate to the plight of the Teri Hatcher character, and does so eloquently.

2: "You know my name" by Chris Cornell. Unmistakably Bond, but, also unmistakably new, like the film itself. Sets up the first appearance of Daniel Craig very nicely.

Music has been an important element of the James Bond movies.

Dr No had the Bond theme composed by Monty Norman and realised by John Barry.

It was Barry who was instrumental in bringing the iconic songs to the movies. Big numbers from the likes of Shirley Bassey singing Goldfinger or Diamonds are forever.

How the music reflected the era once Roger Moore took over the role. Paul McCartney going for a more rock sound with even a hint of reggae.

Marvin Hamlisch brought a touch of disco to The Spy Who Loved Me.

Duran Duran stating how difficult Barry could be to collaborate with but they managed to hit number one in America with A View to a Kill.

I was amused that Sam Smith who won an Oscar for his song for Spectre. Boasting that he wrote the song in 20 minutes and recorded it in one take in a further 20 minutes. It seems Radiohead did have the better song.

There was more emphasis on No Time to Die as it was the most recent movie.

There were failures, Shirley Bassey did not like her song for Moonraker. Tim Rice showed that he should stick to musicals as his song for Octopussy was not an all time high.

I was puzzled why A-ha and Chris Cornell's songs were overlooked.

A criticism about the Daniel Craig era was that the main Bond theme has not been used at all in the action scenes.

David Arnold gives an explanation as to why, the Bond theme appears at the end of Casino Royale.

That does not explain why since then, there are snatches of the Bond theme rather than a full blooded roar.

I remain unconvinced by Hans Zimmer deconstruction of the Bond theme for No Time to Die. It was bass heavy and reminded me too much of his Batman work.

The documentary "The Sound of 007" enriches us with details about the construction and choices of songs/writers and performers for each of the James Bond films. Composer John Barry created the sound of James Bond, he mastered 11 of Bond's music scores. He invented the style and it was the basis of all other subsequent Bond movies.

Any of the 007 movies without the well-known opening theme doesn't sound like a James Bond movie. The theme became one of the main characters of the film, without it the film would be incomplete.

Aside from the opening theme, each Bond film brings the trademark of a song originally written to embrace the plot, this is for all 25 Bonds films.

The documentary focuses a bit more on the soundtracks from the 60s to the 90s and touches on the 2000s onwards. But the film manages to give a good view of how important a soundtrack is for the construction and identification of one character: BOND...James Bond!!!

John Barry wrote the most iconic music score in film history. Film and music have had an important integration that predates "talkies" when the only sound that came out were the musical scores played to fill the silence. Music sets the tone of films and amplifies the emotion of the scene, and has done so forever in movies. Try watching a film where the music score is eliminated and the difference is often startling.

No score is more identifiable than that composed and orchestrated by John Barry, who penned the immediately identifiable James Bond 007 theme. All one has to hear are the first handful of bass string electric guitar notes played to recognize it's the James Bond 007 movie theme. No other song is more connected to film.

'The Sound of 007" is the story behind how it all happened, and the amazing journey of artists and other composers, songs and performances involved over 60 YEARS!

Truly a worthwhile film to see, this is by a wide margin the best documentary on the subject, and a must-see for everyone interested in film and music arts.

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